Hoda Kotb Achieves Major Career Accomplishment

Hoda Kotb is celebrating a major award this week and her Today Show family couldn't be more proud. The 57-year-old mom got the shock of her life when her co-hosts showered her with heartwarming messages over her 30+ year career. Kotb was recently awarded the Matrix Award, which celebrates women doing big things in the communications field.

"Hoda's story is so inspirational because she just was up against all odds to even get her first job in television," her former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford said of Kotb. "She has worked so hard to get where she is, but she never forgets where she's from," Jenna Bush Hager added. 

"Hoda does serious news interviews along with the best of them," longtime Today Show weatherman Al Roker said. Savannah Guthrie chimed in, adding, "She has an amazing way of connecting with people. She's somebody who's ever-evolving and never satisfied to stop learning. And to me, that is a role model for all women in communications."

Kotb also looked back at her career journey. "All of my professional dreams came true," she said. "I had a lifetime at Dateline. I had a lifetime with Kathie Lee and now Jenna, and now I have a new lifetime with Savannah on the early hours. Every professional dream came true for me."

Kotb says that Guthrie, who also is a recipient of the Matrix Award, gave her one of the most memorable pieces of advice that she still lives by. "If you want something bad enough, say it out loud," Kotb said Guthrie told her. "A friend once said, 'Even if you whisper in the bathroom mirror to yourself'. So say your dreams out loud, if you speak them, sometimes they do come true."

Kotb is also a best-selling author, penning inspirational books such as I Really Needed This Today: Words to Live By and This Just Speaks to Me: Words to Live by Every Day. Kotb also is the host of a new podcast, Making Space with Hoda Kotb.